The Captain

By Arnold T. Blumberg

When skinny Steve Rogers submitted himself for a top-secret US government experiment to create a Super Soldier, he had no idea he would become the Sentinel of Liberty and the embodiment of America’s greatest hopes and ideals. But with the downing of a powerful serum, Rogers was transformed into Captain America. The superhero soon known familiarly as Cap was just what WWII Americans needed.

Perhaps the most important characteristic of Captain America was that he always strove to represent the aspirations that united America. When the law or the current presidential administration clashed with what he believed America should be, he often defied the government, shed his mantle, or went underground. He was invariably proven right.

In 2007 Rogers was assassinated, and his former sidekick, Bucky, took his place as Captain America. As has happened with so many fallen comic book heroes, the original Cap will inevitably return one day to resume his place as a quintessential heroic icon in American pop culture.